Isadora Faber, Malala Yousafzai: Extraordinary Youth, Changing Lives

Some publications have selected their own set of people in business, sports and politics making a difference in 2012.

For ibtimes.com.au, there are those simple folks who somehow rippled new hopes in their communities not even imagining their simple acts of faith, kindness, and conviction would echo through the farthest corners of the world.

Ibtimes.com.au gives tribute to these believers, wonderers, achievers, whose extraordinary hopes and dreams give new meaning to "inspiration" breathing life to change in the age of social media.

Isadora Faberfor Education Reforms

The Brazilian 13-year-old from the small town of Santa Catarina mustered the guts to tell the world about the needed changes in her school.

She used the power of social media through her Facebook page Diário de Classe (Classroom Diary) and vented her ire for the poorly maintained school facilities in her district: toilets with no doors or broken seats, broken desks, a ceiling fan that emits electric shock, and many more that could simply be a daily living hell for elementary and middle school students.

Although she got reproached by school administrators for her Facebook page and blogs that now has half a million likes, she got results and facilities got repaired at the school facilities she endured for so many years.

Isadora tells Newsweek.com that she could no longer walk to school without being escorted by her parents for fear of reprisals from those inconvenienced by the truth she told, she is not deterred nor does she regret what she has begun.

Thanks to Isadora, Brazil could no longer shun its dysfunctional educational system under the rags.

If Isadora of Brazil craves to have better school conditions for the youth of her country and for the rest of the developing countries that has more than a million new students every year, a 15-year-old girl in Pakistan simply wanted to be literate in hers, where it remains a taboo to seek fair rights for women.

Malala YousafzaiSeeks Education, End of Violence on Women

Taking up the cause for fair education for women, Malala Yousafzai got shot by the Taliban early in 2012.

Malala, who got the attention of the Pakistani government and helped her seek medical attention in the UK, is still unpopular for her cause.

Her government even wanted to name a school for girls after her but some protesters hesitated saying it would endanger those women further. This move will also give the Taliban more teeth to brandish their propaganda against women getting educated in Pakistan.

Now recuperating in a British hospital, Malala shared her concern on the persisting violence on women in South Asia amidst the progress experienced in some parts especially in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Malala voiced her concern on the persisting and often violent crimes against women in India and Pakistan, which had been ignored by government authorities.

In rural India, some authorities especially in the police usually ask the gang rape victim to settle amicably either with an agreement of marriage with one of the assailants or settle for a financial compensation.

Gang rapes, according to local papers, had been a usual occurrence that the Indian press had rarely reported on them.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has acknowledged that it is time that the country "reflect on this problem, which occurs in all states and regions."

"We must reflect on this problem, which occurs in all states and regions. It requires greater attention by the central government and states," he said in a public address on Thursday.